1. Field
One or more exemplary embodiments relate to a method and apparatus for efficiently managing life of a battery bank by monitoring life of a battery bank unit online
2. Description of the Related Art
A battery bank unit is a unit of a battery bank that is a large-scale battery assembly. A single battery may form a battery bank unit or a plurality of batteries that are serially or parallelly connected to each other may form a battery bank unit. These battery bank units make a large-scale battery bank.
A battery bank, which is an assembly of battery bank units, has been applied to various fields such as an internet data center (IDC) or an uninterruptable power supply (UPS).
Battery manufacturers have recommended using a plurality of batteries manufactured from the same manufacture lot, that is, a certain period and a certain place, for one battery bank system and banned a mixed use of batteries manufactured from different lots in the same battery bank. This is because batteries manufactured under the same conditions may differ in their life due to a difference in a manufacture time. For example, one battery manufactured several months earlier than the other battery may have a shorter life than the other battery. The whole life of a battery bank is mainly determined by a battery that is manufactured earlier than the other batteries. Accordingly, when the life of an earlier manufactured battery is over, a battery bank may be disposed of even when a later manufactured battery still works.
As such, when the life of each unit of a battery bank is not properly monitored, the whole life of a battery bank is determined according to the life of the weakest battery bank unit. In this case, it is an industrial practice to dispose of the entire battery bank and replace it with a new battery bank even when most rechargeable other batteries are still usable. Korean Patent Application No. 10-2013-0068644 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Monitoring Life of Battery Bank Online” discloses an invention in which a battery bank unit is individually removable and life of a battery bank unit may be monitored online, thereby efficiently using a battery bank. According to the invention, online monitoring of life of a battery bank is possible. If the life of a battery bank unit having a shorter life than the other bank unit can be rather extended through monitoring, use efficiency of a battery bank may be quite improved.
Thus, a method and apparatus for managing life of a battery bank unit which may extend the life of a battery bank at its maximum and also remove user's inconvenience of separating a battery bank unit is needed.